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The Thwaites Ice Shelf is one of the biggest ice shelves in West Antarctica, though it is highly unstable and disintegrating rapidly. [2] [3] Since the 1980s, the Thwaites Glacier, nicknamed the "Doomsday glacier", [4] has had a net loss of over 600 billion tons of ice, though pinning of the Thwaites Ice Shelf has served to slow the process. [5]
On this map, arrows mark warm water currents, which are the main factor in the projected demise of the Thwaites Glacier. [23] Between 1992 and 2017, Thwaites Glacier retreated at between 0.3 km (0.19 mi) and 0.8 km (0.50 mi) annually, depending on the sector, [42] and experienced a net loss of over 600 billion tons of ice as the result. [48]
Its most vulnerable parts like Thwaites Glacier, which holds about 65 cm (25 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) of sea level rise equivalent, are believed to require "centuries" to collapse entirely. [53] Thwaites' ice loss over the next 30 years would likely be around 5 mm of sea level rise between 2018 and 2050, and between 14 and 42 mm over 100 years. [40]
Scientists using ice-breaking ships and underwater robots have found the Thwaites Glacier is melting at an accelerating rate and could be on an irreversible path to collapse.
The Thwaites Glacier has been studied for years as an indicator of human-caused climate change. In one nightmare scenario, the glacier's melt fuels a 50-foot rise in sea level.
The new findings from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration add to a vast body of research on how the deterioration of glaciers worldwide could contribute to sea level rise.
The contribution of these glaciers to global sea levels has already accelerated since the year 2000. The Thwaites Glacier now accounts for 4% of global sea level rise. [110] [112] [113] It could start to lose even more ice if the Thwaites Ice Shelf fails and would no longer stabilize it, which could potentially occur in mid-2020s. [114]
Although the glacier is replenished through snowfall, and glaciers generally accumulate more snow than they lose, the Thwaites Glacier is losing around 50 billion tons more ice than it is ...